Let Me Call You Sweetheart
by mandaree1
Summary: "As the potato curse consumed her final thoughts, she decided to embrace her fate. To... explode into stardust!"


**Disclaimer: I don't own Adventure Time!**

 **Title: Let Me Call You Sweetheart**

 **Summary: "As the potato curse consumed her final thoughts, she decided to embrace her fate, to... explode into stardust!"**

 **...**

The night sky of Ooo had always been gorgeous. The inky darkness seemed to almost protect the world, divvying it up into little tiny spots dotted with campfires and lamplight. Chaotic as it was plentiful, Marceline still felt safer in its depths than at any other time after the Mushroom War. Perhaps that was just a side effect of being one of the strongest creatures around. Or maybe it was just because the riot fires had calmed down over the years.

"You mind if I pop a squat?"

"Sit, Marceline," Princess Bubblegum- not Bonnie. This _thing_ isn't Bonnie- says, waving her small hands. "You'll be sweet soon. Aren't you excited?"

Her voice is peppy. Marceline likes to believe that the Bonnie she knows is still in there somewhere, but Bonnie would never be so peppy. Not in the wake of her entire kingdom getting jelly-beaned on. "Yeah, sure, I guess."

Even so, knowing what she knows, knowing this will never be her Bonnie ever again, she sits on the little bend that leads up to her face, back to her. It's like they- the pink mass and her jeans- are two halves of velcro sticking together. Like maybe they were supposed to be this way all along. It's a beautiful night. Marceline'll miss the sky- out of all her powers, flying was the coolest- but not as much as she'll miss Ooo. This Ooo. The proper Ooo.

 _Don't be silly_ , a voice in her mind tells her. It sounds a lot like the Vampire King. _You said the same thing about the original world. You don't miss it now, do you?_

Of course not.

"Oh, Marceline, look," Princess Bubblegum chimed in fondly, "you're turning into marshmallows."

Marceline glanced at her hands. Bumps had scattered across her gray skin. Her stomach changed over around an hour ago, but she's been too afraid to look. No one ever wants to see the carnage. "Huh. I thought they were potatoes, for some reason. I guess it was the lighting."

"Potatoes aren't _sweet_ , Marceline," she chided.

That's true. But Marceline had never really fit in, even before the war. There was a reason she and her mom had gone to live all alone in a trailer, and that was because she wasn't fully human. People had steered clear when she was with Simon, and then because she was out for vampire blood (and who could blame them, really? Marcy couldn't count how many vamps were dust because of her. It's only natural they'd fear that kind of ambition) and finally because she was the Queen of a kingdom that didn't technically exist. It only felt right that Ooo be candy while she became a potato.

Bubblegum wasn't done. "Oooh, a marshmallow is so _fitting_. You can be Marshmaline the Campfire Queen. Doesn't that have a lovely ring? You'll truly be fixed, then."

"Was I ever broken?" Marceline asks, though the question itself is redundant. _Of course_ she was broken. She hadn't been whole in many, many years. "No. Don't answer that."

"I'm glad you stayed, Marcy," the elemental said earnestly, then giggled. "Oh, you can be Marshy now! It's such a cute nickname."

Something about that pricked Marceline the wrong way. In a world of constant changes, it was the little things that mattered, and Marcy had always mattered. Her mother called her Marcy. Simon called her Marcy. Bonnie did, too. Somewhere along the way, before Bonnie was a close friend again (which is important; they couldn't have gotten it off her), Finn and Jake had come up with it, or heard it somewhere, and for some reason Marceline had allowed it. It's really hard to keep up your street cred of being intimidating when a teenager and his dog called you by a cutesy nickname. "Are you really glad? I mean, I'm basically sitting on you, Peebs."

She wiggled her arms. "Very glad! The most glad ever! This way, we'll be together forever."

That hadn't occurred to her. "...Yeah?"

"Yes, yes, yes. You can stay in the clouds with me! We'll sing songs together, and nothing will ever tear us apart again." The marshmallows were closing in on her chest. Marceline prayed this wouldn't get weirder than it already was. "Don't you want us to stay together forever?"

That's a _very_ loaded question. If Marceline's being honest, she's not ready to decipher that answer, up to her armpits in marshmallows. But maybe it's best that way. Sometimes, the nicest thing a person can do is keep a little padlock around certain sections of their heart. That way, no one gets hurt, and there are no losers. "Okay, Peebs. I trust you."

The tower vibrates a little bit. She takes that as a sign of happiness.

"You were always _so_ smart, Marshy," Bubblegum compliments her, as if that was her reward for giving in. Compliments.

"Not as smart as you."

"No," she agreed, "not as smart as me. But that doesn't mean much in the long run. Soon, you'll be perfect. Can I tell you a little secret, though?"

"Shoot."

"I'll miss your hair. It's imperfect, but I really want to braid it one last time."

Almost to her neck, now. Marceline keeps her eyes shut. Will her bite marks remain? Will Marshmaline the Campfire Queen even remember being bitten? (Will she even be a vampire at all?) "I'm going to miss the sky, I think. Hey, Bonnie?"

"Yes, Marshy?"

"We've had a decent run, don't you think?"

"And now we'll have a _sweet_ run together!"

No answer. Fair enough. Marceline sighed. "Well, all things have to come to an end eventually. Even the immortal things."

Bubblegum scoffed. "Oooh, quit being so down, Marshy! The world is better off happy and sweet! Soon we'll see- and we'll see it together. Won't that be just lovely?"

"Yeah," Marceline said. "It might just be."

The vampire fell back into the pink velcro. It's something Marceline has learned from years of hardship- if you're going to go down, you might as well do it yourself. Besides. She doesn't want that to be on Bonnie's hands.

 _Let me call you sweetheart_  
 _I'm in love with you_  
 _Let me hear you whisper_  
 _That you love me too_

 _Keep the love light glowing_  
 _In your eyes so true_  
 _Let me call you sweetheart_  
 _I'm in love with you_

 _Keep the love light glowing_  
 _In your eyes so true_  
 _Let me call you sweetheart_  
 _I'm in love with you_

 **Author's Note: I'm sure there's already a handful of 'fics titled after the song, but I thought the title was fitting. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I got inspired by Ketchup to write this.**

 **-Mandaree1**


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